Fescennine

Highly formal and often quite formulaic--George Puttenham's Art of English Poesie (1689) and Julius Caesar Scaliger's Poetices libri septem (1561) provided guidelines for conventional composition--epithalamia usually praise the beauty and character of bride and bridegroom, talk about t heir families, and celebrate unity, stability, and harmony, sometimes incorporating traditional fescennine verses designed to ward off evil by poking fun at it, and invariably ending with blessings and benedictions.

One of the most significant of the epithalamic conventions that appears at the end of the novel is the inclusion of the fescennine element.

In Emma, the fescennine tradition appears in the character of Mr.